Celebrating Spring and Food Fights

A few days ago, a bunch of us headed to the Hare Krishna Temple that's a few miles south for the Holi festival, or the Festival of Colors. The festival welcomes spring with music, a bonfire, and the throwing of brightly colored powder all over the place. It was a blast.

The experience reminded me of my childhood dream to have an enormous food fight. I remember sitting the a cafeteria at Frontier Elementary School and wishing that I had the guts to throw the green bell pepper slices my mom had put in my lunch at the nearest innocent bystander. The individual, more out of play than malice, would then chuck back his/her applesauce and then the fun would begin. Instantly dozens of children from grades one to six would toss their midday meal across the room, creating frenzy for the lunch ladies and teachers aids to deal with. Every toss would be an expression of freedom, liberty, and a dislike of sack lunch food. It would end with every child covered in brightly colored edible goo. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, my dream continued to include the fury of the principal and the consequences that would follow. So, instead of hurling bell pepper at the nearest kind next to me, I just ate it and went to recess.

Although we weren't heaving food at each other, the Festival of Colors and the paint throwing was near enough to my childhood dream, that I felt that my repressed ambition was satisfied, and without the angry principal. Although everything that I was wearing, and especially anything white, is permanently dyed a lovely shade of pink, it was so worth it.